A variety of plastic and Styrofoam coolers are widely available on the market for keeping one's food and drink cool for picnics, backyard barbeques, road trips, bringing home groceries in the summer, etc. Traditionally, these coolers are no more than an insulated box or other container that can be filled with ice, ice packs or cold gel packs to help keep the food and/or beverages cool. These traditional coolers may have handles to facilitate carrying or straps for wearing the cooler as a backpack. These traditional coolers, however, are typically large and unwieldy, not to mention aesthetically and ergonomically unrefined. These coolers are therefore ill-suited for persons wishing to bring food, drinks or temperature-sensitive medicine to work, to a meeting, to a conference, or other social setting where big, bulky and unaesthetic coolers would be inappropriate and appear out of place.
Also known in the art are a variety of portable refrigeration units. Portable refrigeration units that employ mechanical compressors are expensive, bulky, and require a substantial power source to drive the compressor. Portable cooling units that incorporate much smaller Peltier-effect cooling devices are also known but these also require a power source and are unduly expensive for the limited cooling capacity that they provide.
A need has therefore arisen for a portable cooler that is more ergonomic and aesthetic than traditional cooler designs and which does not require a power source.